Originally Posted by
vicarious_MR'er
My opposition to the lap infant thing is the selfishness of it all. I don't play the safety card at all on this topic (even if it's true).
and before someone tries to play the "well if your kids' grandparents lived far away, you'd feel differently.... waaaaaaaaah"... well, they do.
We are in Boston, and my children's grandparents live in Israel. Almost all of their aunts and uncles and cousins are in Israel and Romania, too. That doesn't make me entitled to be a huge inconvenience to others because I am trying to protect my own wallet.
How is having a lap child=selfish, and are you saying that in respect to other pax or the child. A lap child vs a seated child, ideally shouldn’t have affect on any other pax much less a huge inconvenience. Now if someone has the attitude that you should are entitled to a free seat out of the deal, then yes I agree. I also agree if you rock up with your car seat and no seat that is being a little presumptuous.
But I don’t think the attitude if you can’t afford 3 tickets you shouldn’t go even though you can afford the 2 tickets and lap child fare. The airline clearly shows as a viable option and should since the lap child really isn’t adding too much burden to the cost of the airline, except maybe some additional rubbish generated. A lap baby doesn’t have to inconvenience anybody except the parent of course. We took our son several times as a lap baby from the states to South Africa to see family, and he did well. He is now 2.5 and I am pretty sure if it was an option he would rather be on our laps for the flight than his own seat.